Diamond Resorts reduces owner benefits again!

My purpose was not to insult anyone, but to have people think about assuming some sort of personal responsibility. We have a country full of people who are consistently looking to blame someone else for their lack of effort or responsibilit. Like I said in my earlier post, I don't like the increases either. If I were to discover that DRI was up to no good then I would be on board. I listen to people complain about not being able to get reservations. I have stayed at several DRI properties and when I have taken the time to plan in advance there has been very little trouble. I even have a reservation in the summer in Coronado where I know it's difficult to get to. I have also stayed at the Point in Poipu during the summer. I am no one special just a regular Joe and I just don't understand what is happening. There are several people that don't even know how to use their memberships. Instead of making an attempt on getting on that phone and calling the help center to get the bare minimum of assistance, they often just complain and want out. The books that are supplied and they're online too are very clear as to what to do. The DRI website is way too easy.

For the record, I did write DRI about two years ago just to suggest to them to calm down on the maintenance fee increases and to get working on the properties to make them nicer since they are charging us an arm and a leg. I also suggested that they communicate more with the owners. I received a couple of calls from them thanking me for the suggestions. I must share that I have owned my timeshare since it was with Sunterra and have noticed many of the properties are being upgraded. There has been much more communication. The fees well that is still another story. The improvement of the online reservation system was a very good improvement. I have read many positive responses to the improvement. I am sure DRi did not do anything because of what I wrote, but the fact that they made the effort to communicate with an owner is important to me. I read posts on TUG and Timeshare Forum that others have had the same kind of treatment. DRI is a big organization as are many of the others. Not everyone is going to be happy all of the time with all aspects of any timeshare. However, people need to look into that mirror first before they start looking to lay blame. We all have the same membership. Some have points and some have weeks. There are happy people in both groups and unhappy ones in both groups.

larryw242 wrote:

Man am I glad I dumped Diamond Resorts! I could not get a room at any time I needed it and there was always some reason that they couldnt comply.

How did you dump DR? Did you just turn it over, or sell it at a loss

I paid Timeshare Relief 2000.00 to take it off my hands. I paid 800.00 in fees every year so 3 years and Im ahead in my ballgame. At least I found a company who told me the truth!!!

Charles,

I agree that the maintenance fees are excessive, some pelple wine about nothing, and some owners don't read their contracts. However, I really object to DRI giving themselves tens of thousands of dollars increase in management fees, even if payment is delayed until another year. I'm not sue happy either. I believe that you are still missing the big picture. It is about control and who reports to whom. DRI is supposed to be the management company working for us the owners. According to my timeshare contract (please read your own), the management company gets one seat on the Board of Directors. Yet DRI keeps putting their own employees on the election ballots and endorses them with all the votes (timeshares) they own, while diluting any chance of other candidates by listing many who want to run but are kept from contacting other owners. Obviously, the election is stacked against us the common owners, and DRI effectively owns and operates Point at Poipu. Boards of Directors are powerful people, much like Unions represent the workers. What are you going to do, if say someday the Board decides to sell the resort to another DRI affiliate for half or a fourth of what you paid for your timeshare and you are told to lump it? You and many other owners need to wiseup and learn to undersand corporate America. We need to band together and vote as a single voice. Please consider joining CDOPP, which can be found at: www.poipuowners.org

I really do not know what to say to you Charles... You obviously will forgive anyone who commits a fraud... Diamond Resorts sales staff at "The Point of Poipu" lied directly to me, not about something contained in all of the legal written material, not about how the system operates (though they did mislead a great deal), but they lied about their ownership of "The Point at Poipu", a serious deliberate lie that would have told me that "I did Not want to Buy into this".. If I had any way of knowing that DRI owned less than 10% of the room weeks of the resort I would have walked out... They actually told me they owned the entire resort, that every room /week was owned and in the "points system"... It was over a year later at the Annual Meeting held February 20, 2009 a full 14 months later that the truth was discovered... I will wager that not one person buying into the "Point" today knows that, nor is it printed in any material given to new members, nor is it available no matter how hard you look... So Charles, should I just shut up and pay and pay and PAY their ever escalatimg fee's, while my membership becomes more deluded by new members who can not be accomodated even when I bought in over 26 months ago, and still have not been able to use this resort... Michael

I dont miss any big pictures!!! Lets face it,these timeshares have become big,big business and cater to people that want to spend big money. I bought mine in 2000 and since then they have outgrown my style!!! Its almost lacking good sense to buy into this confusion today!!!

michaeld414 wrote:

I was at the Annual Meeting on Kauai last February, it was a very manipulated agenda... There were many angry owners present (the majority present were angry) and many wanted to make comments, but were told to wait until the meeting ended... That was to keep the anger out of the actual minutes of the meeting, which are a legal record available to all members... This past week I tried to make a reservation for the Oceanfront we had paid for, exactely 13 months out for the end of November 2010... NONE were available, yet there were four (4) reservations available if I were going to pay cash ($9,292.31 - 9,494.66) for each two week period... When I called they told me that the units available for members were all booked... .

Just a note, I own a deeded OF at Pointe at Poipu, and faxed in my reservation exactly 360 days in advance, 1 min after midnight, and got a confirmed oceanfront unit for the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 2010. I think the issue is they have to prorate or limit the reservations to those who bought in the collection, or who own deeded weeks. They gotta save deeded weeks, and if not used, will make those available for points folks

What frosts me is the points groups can reserve 13 months out, yet deeded owners can only go 360 days.

Diamond Resorts has contacted me at my home, trying to get me to convert to points. Of course this would require an additional purchase. I am told that if I do not convert to points I will limit my ability to stay at the resort where I own in Kauai, Hawaii. If anyone else has concerns that what Diamond Resorts is doing is unfair or possibly illegal, I would be interested in hearing from you.

Don't believe DRI. If they merely want you to join Club then their statement is a complete misrepresentation. The fact that the unit drops out of Club when sold ensures their statement is not accurate. If they want you to convert your deeded week into the HI Collections, maybe in 15 years after they buy up the cheap resale units to sell as Collections, find ways to force owners to sell to them at below market discounts (on the premise the owner violated Club rules for example), and convince a minority of deeded owners to convert into Collections - maybe deeded owners will be in the minority.

I am a weeks and points and Club owner/member. There are a lot of great reasons to be a points and / or Club member, but I'm no longer a fan. My experience has taught me a few things about the DRI system: - If you own one of the collections contracts your cost of ownership is usually more than an equivalent deeded owner. this wasn't true 3+ years ago. - While a very attractive feature of the Collections contracts, or participating in Club, is the discount provided for available reservations less than 60 days in advance (usually the discount is 50% but it ranges between 0-90%), on a regular basis there is better availability to weeks owners.

Why do weeks owners / non Club members have better availability? - Legacy owners don't want to pay to convert to points or join Club. I used to say this was their loss, but not any longer. - DRI has made it increasingly more expensive to convert a resale unit back into Club. - Club membership is lost when a DRI owner sells their Club participating contract.

This is why DRI Club inventory will always have difficulty providing the best availability. Because DRI wants to make money on owners as much as possible rather than ensuring the owner experience is the best (and thus most desirable), too many resale units do not re-enter Club. Thus DRI has a never ending challenge to talk people into joining Club and or converting into a Collections contract. I figure they don't mind doing this because they make more money and as long as owners and prospective owners don't realize how the agreements are so much more favorable for DRI than the owners, DRI will continure to profit at our expense.

Too bad you missed the annual owners meeting last week conducted by DRI, and the followup meeting by the timeshare owners later the same week. Sounds like you didn't fall for the DRI sales pitch. I didn't either. Go to and join "poipuowners.org". They can help you.

A comment to make to all of the 'Deeded Owners" converting to points is not in your interest.. The average annual fee's for Deeded Owners is $ 1400 while the same equivelant Points Fee's are like mine at $ 2100 for each week... They are telling everyone that the fee's for 2010 did not go up at all, well my bill went from $ 2,800 for 2008, 3,600 for 2009, and 4,200 for 2010... I expect by 2014 they will be $ 7,000 for our 2 weeks worth of points... How many of the Points Members will walk away from their investment which we paid over $55,000 in cash for, and how will that affect future Fee's if members walk away.... I was there for the Owners meetings this past week, Diamond would not allow me into the VOA meeting, and they were very hostile to the new "Deeded Owners" group... They actually followed Richard Batchelder and I around to listen to our conversation, it felt like being watched by organized crime... Frankly we are thinking about walking away from this if the fee's get much higher...

I have had nothing but problems with DRI in every way possible. How can I get out of my contract!!

I don't think anyone is stupid enough not to realize we got ourself into this mess, my gripe is all the other stuff, higher and higher maintenance fees, I swear everytime we want to go, they don't have it available,,,, i could go on and on...

rubys17 wrote:

I swear everytime we want to go, they don't have it available,,,, i could go on and on...

I hate the fees myself, I bought when they were $695 at Poipu, before Sunterra, but I have always gotten what I requested. Got up at 5 am this morning to reserve oceanfront Mar 12, 2011. Yes, I do plan in advance, thats the only way to get what I paid for. If my plans change and I want to go on shorter notice, then I will get whats available, I'd grumble about gardenview, but thats what I get for waiting.

Few years ago, I was at Poipu, went to front desk at midnight to 'fax' in my reservation request for the following year, there were 4 other people doing the same thing. Of course they charged me $3 for an outgoing fax to the office around the corner, but that's a different discussion.

Actually the "deeded Weeks" owners have better choices because there are more unit weeks in their pool, where as the points members have less than 10% of the unit weeks available in their pool, and they continue to sell more memberships in the points pool, but do not add any additional unit weeks, that is unless they can convince any Deeded Owners to convert... When the facts are known, no Deeded Owner's would ever convert and pay more in annual fee's with less availability and pay for that conversion...

michaeld414 wrote:

Actually the "deeded Weeks" owners have better choices because there are more unit weeks in their pool, where as the points members have less than 10% of the unit weeks available in their pool, and they continue to sell more memberships in the points pool, but do not add any additional unit weeks, that is unless they can convince any Deeded Owners to convert... When the facts are known, no Deeded Owner's would ever convert and pay more in annual fee's with less availability and pay for that conversion...

Very true, Diamond can also stop any private sales by exercising their right of refusal. If they really wanted units in the Hawaii collection, all they gotta do is buy them on the open market. I'll sell mine to them.

The lack of units, is that why we have the Sedona resort in the Hawaii collection now?

I am not sure how many units are in the various pools. I am a Club member and was able to get two summer weeks in Maui at the Kanapali Beach Club in August. The rooms look pretty nice. In fact, I made the reservation about 9 months out and played around with the dates. There were PLENTY of rooms available. The issue of room availability particularly at prime weeks is a challenge for all timeshares. I experience it with my Marriot property during the summer. People get up at 6 a.m. to make a reservation for summer weeks in Hawaii with Marriott.

I have never had a lot of difficulty using DRI. Planning makes it easier. In fact, I have a room in late June including July 4th at the Coronado Beach Resort. I admit that one is difficult to get, but with some early planning and remember I am a Club member, it can be done.

Yes, I hate the fees, but DRI is not all bad. It works for me. I live within driving distance of several of their properties in California and have been able to exercise my membership with few problems.

Yes Charles... We know you love Diamond... I have to believe you are an employee or connected by someone close to you to have such a love affair with Diamond.... I was at the Annual Meetings, and the meetings at the Point at Poipu this year and last... There were dozens of angry disappointed members present, and Diamond Employee's were lurking all around to listen in on our conversations... Are those the acts of a management that cares about the member's disappointment and anger, then Diamond threatened to file Suit against the Owners Group claiming Defamation, are those the acts of concerned management... I am sure glad you like the Diamond anagement will you buy my points for 50% of what I paid... Why are you here Charles if you like DRI so much...? Monitoring our comments I presume...

I do like DRI but I am not an employee or connected by anyone. I just have not had the same experiences as everyone else except for those darn high maintenance fees. These forums are not just for people to complain but to help others as well.

I know that some people are not happy. I read on TUG about the lawsuit. If there is something that DRI is doing wrong then address it. When I have had a problem about something, I have called or emailed someone and it was taken care of and handled well. I have even shared stuff on TUG and told people whom to contact when they had a problem and they responded saying that it was taken care of. They were surprised because they were having a bad experience. I understand that sometimes things go wrong. I have had problems a couple of times too, but not all of the time. It's just that I do own two of these timeshares and don't have the issues that others seem to have on a consistent basis. It makes me wonder if I am just doing something so wrong or am I just totally oblvious to things. I was quite upset last year when I stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista one week and did not have to pay for the internet in my room, but went to DRI's Grand Beach and had to pay not just for internet access but per computer. I was extremely angry about that. I did speak with the resort manager and I sent a comment card. Now I see as an elite member, I can get free internet access at DRI resorts. I just have a different experience. You can read my comments on the TUG reviews. I just call them as I see them from my perspective.

I've tried talking to them, emailing them, even filing a complaint with the BBB. (BTW..look at their nice big "F" on there).

Those guys are worthless. They have you, and they won't let go.